There are well-known connectors that couple a barrel of a plug with a plurality of contacts to an end bell attached to an end portion of a cable using an assembly nut.
For example, such a known connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. JP2001-267006A. The known connector shown in JP2001-267006A includes a barrel, an end bell, and an assembly nut coupling the barrel and the end bell to each other. The barrel is positioned along an end portion of the plug receiving a plurality of contacts. The barrel includes a plurality of keys projecting in a radial direction. Alternatively, the end bell includes an end portion having a plurality of key grooves to engage with keys of the barrel. The end bell also includes another end portion provided with a port for drawing out a cable connected to the plurality of contacts. Further, the assembly nut is formed with a plurality of key grooves into which the keys of the barrel are inserted and is held by the end bell to be rotatable by a predetermined angle.
When the connector is assembled, first, the assembly nut is inserted into a distal end portion of the end bell such that key grooves of the end bell and the key grooves of the assembly nut are aligned with each other along a predetermined angle relationship. Next, the keys of the barrel are caused to pass through the key grooves of the assembly nut to be inserted into the key grooves of the end bell, so that locating of the cables in the cable drawing-out direction is performed. Thereafter, the assembly nut is rotated by a predetermined angle so that the barrel and the end bell are secured to each other.
In the known connector shown in JP2001-267006A, however, there is the following problem.
That is, in the case of the known connector shown in JP2001-267006A, when the assembly nut is inserted into the distal end portion of the end bell, a projection of the assembly nut is substantially press-fit into a slot of the end bell. Therefore, a large force is required upon initial assembling, and when disassembling and assembling are repeated, the end bell is scraped, which results in such a problem that a retaining force of the assembly nut to the end bell is lowered.